For nearly three decades, a well-established paint manufacturing company had struggled to keep pace with its competitors. Despite its longevity in the industry, it consistently underperformed.

The newly appointed CEO stepped in with a bold directive: “Grow fast and play aggressively.” However, rather than chasing rapid growth, the leadership team sought a more sustainable and inclusive approach.

Diagnosing the Challenge

In our initial discussions, the CEO identified both strengths and weaknesses within the organization. The company boasted a deeply experienced, long-tenured workforce—including a leadership team with rich domain expertise. Yet, over the years, a culture of complacency had taken root, keeping employees within their comfort zones.

One of the CEO’s key observations was the siloed nature of the company. Communication barriers were prevalent, decision-making remained rigidly top-down, and most leaders operated as taskmasters rather than enablers. This command-and-control culture stifled engagement starting right from the leadership level.

Determined to break this cycle, the CEO was eager to challenge the status quo and inject fresh perspectives to drive growth. Our assessment pointed to a core issue: a lack of ownership among leaders and employees, a challenge that demanded immediate attention.

Driving Change: Cultivating an Ownership Mindset

To kickstart this transformation, we designed a curated two-day workshop featuring our flagship program, “Ownership Culture Propeller.” Our goal? To demystify the often abstract concept of an ownership mindset and translate it into practical, relatable actions for leaders.

Beyond just training, we focused on real-world applications. Each leader developed a personal action plan, tailored to their team’s specific dynamics. Over the next 12 weeks, a structured series of coaching sessions—a mix of one-on-one and group formats—helped leaders move from inspiration to action and sustained practice.

Measurable Shifts and Leadership Buy-In

As feedback began rolling in, the impact was evident.

– Teams experienced greater clarity in roles and responsibilities.

– Rituals like stand-ups and retrospectives that were introduced to give a structure to their interaction and provide rhythm, helped boost participation and awareness of how individual contributions  are interconnected across the organization in creating value.

A standout moment? Even the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) saw firsthand how cross-functional stand-up meetings surfaced and solved complex problems more proactively. Collaboration replaced fragmentation, and leaders began to operate with a shared sense of purpose.

As the CEO shared in one of our conversation
“This shift is preparing us to work as a unified team, ready to tackle market challenges without falling into blame games.”

“Transforming spaces, transforming lives” was more than a tagline for the facilities management company; the CEO was committed to making it part of their operations. However, in a sector where services were delivered at minimum wages and competition demanded high service quality, balancing customer experience and employee satisfaction was a challenge.

The company’s performance management system was still in its infancy. Their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were primarily financial and operational, lacking the nuance needed to build a performance culture. It wasn’t helping teams balance the competing demands of delivering great customer service while ensuring employee satisfaction.

With KPI rationalisation on the agenda, the CEO suggested embracing OKRs. After several discussions, however, the team realised that it would be too big a change, and they needed something that fits their purpose.

Our goal was to create a system that aligns with the company’s mission, promoting a growth mindset like OKRs but maintaining focus on execution as KPIs do. Adopting a #semcostyle approach, we co-created a hybrid system that blended the strengths of both OKRs and KPIs.

To tie the aspirational tagline to their day-to-day work, we started with three core pillars: Cash, Convenience, and Compliance. For each pillar, we identified the function-specific drivers and the roles that had the most influence. From there, we defined measurable Key Results (KRs) for each role, ensuring they cascaded down and connected to the broader organisational objectives.

For the initial roll-out, we agreed that the initial focus would be on driving performance culture rather than pushing a growth mindset. As the teams matured, there would be room to shift that balance.

Ultimately, the solution wasn’t about choosing between OKRs or KPIs—it was about finding a system that measured what truly mattered, fitting the company’s needs, stage of growth, and where they are in their journey of building a performance culture.